Why austerity is the wrong plan

Damien

I'm not a great player. Never have been, probably never will be. But, I felt like I was progressing, slowly, but surly prior to the update that got rid of big boxes (I can't think of the # right now). Since then I feel like I'm going backwards. It's gotten worse with each update. People said standard was supposed to level the playing field but I haven't noticed much. I'm not necessarily disagreeing with standard, but I don't think it was an equalizing event like a lot of people touted it to be.

Mainloop25

I guess I'm somewhere in the middle between OP and Steeme. I think nerfing awards at the top was and still is a bad idea. You see more engagement overall when there is more reward potential  on the line. However, there are so many ways to earn crystals and packs for free nowadays. If they keep up with giving us more jewels in events, keep the Trials cost to enter low, and up the drop rates (or at least stop with giving us dupes at themythic/masterpiece level), then I think that is a decent compromise. I like the game more in its current state than I have in months. 

shteev

PersonMan said:

Now you may say, just invest your crystals in Origins, that seems like it may stay in Standard.

Core Sets are coming back to paper MTGPQ. Do not bank on Origins being legal in Standard indefinitely.

shteev

TOS seemed to have a pretty good prize stucture, didn't it? The players at the top got 300j, which is less than the mythic that they used to get. And the players underneath them got 150j which is way more than the rare they used to get.

A lot of players at the top recognise that getting somewhere between 2 and 7 mythics a week like we used to was a problem; a cut was necessary, but was it necessary to cut it down to 1 mythic every few weeks?

Laeuftbeidir

shteev said:

TOS seemed to have a pretty good prize stucture, didn't it? The players at the top got 300j, which is less than the mythic that they used to get. And the players underneath them got 150j which is way more than the rare they used to get.

A lot of players at the top recognise that getting somewhere between 2 and 7 mythics a week like we used to was a problem; a cut was necessary, but was it necessary to cut it down to 1 mythic every few weeks?

Fully agree on that one, ToS finally felt really worth playing.. To bad we probably won't get that on a regular base

Bubbleworks

I am one of the new players. Currently trying my hardest to stay in Bronze as I don't have too many good cards. I managed to pull 3 rares so far. I just pick up my daily free booster and bought 2 of the 300 packs with crystals. It's slow but not frustrating. I don't expect to be able to start and win. Collectible Card games are like that. I guess I could spend money and pull more cards. But why? I try and make my decks work with what I have. I play all the free events and training grounds, work my way through stories. That's plenty for now. Of course I was not here before things changed, so I have no opinion on that, but as a new player I manage to have enough fun and win the odd booster and crystals from events. So it seems to be working. 

babar3355

 Bubbleworks said:

I am one of the new players. Currently trying my hardest to stay in Bronze as I don't have too many good cards. I managed to pull 3 rares so far. I just pick up my daily free booster and bought 2 of the 300 packs with crystals. It's slow but not frustrating. I don't expect to be able to start and win. Collectible Card games are like that. I guess I could spend money and pull more cards. But why? I try and make my decks work with what I have. I play all the free events and training grounds, work my way through stories. That's plenty for now. Of course I was not here before things changed, so I have no opinion on that, but as a new player I manage to have enough fun and win the odd booster and crystals from events. So it seems to be working. 

I actually think this was the most fun part of the game.  I was too dense to realize that I could check what cards were even in the packs.  I just opened them at random.  I remember my first mythic "dragonmaster outcast", which I thought was the greatest card ever invented.

I do believe they have done a good job with the early game although I think quick battle was a better design for those players than training grounds.

It's really in the mid to late game that the changes have tended to make the game less fun.

I agree with your perspective @bubbleworks, don't spend real money... enjoy the progression and enjoy making your collection work rather than rushing to the end game and joining our disillusioned crowd.

shteev said:

TOS seemed to have a pretty good prize stucture, didn't it? The players at the top got 300j, which is less than the mythic that they used to get. And the players underneath them got 150j which is way more than the rare they used to get.

A lot of players at the top recognise that getting somewhere between 2 and 7 mythics a week like we used to was a problem; a cut was necessary, but was it necessary to cut it down to 1 mythic every few weeks?

I agree we were getting too much. I always advocated for some compromise between the glory days and a more reasonable amount of cards for top players. 

However, ToS was actually a substantial prize nerf.  It was the same 3000 player brackets, but in the equivalent monthly IF or BP the top 25-50 got an actual mythic rather than 3/4 of one or less.  And sorry, but Rishkar's Expertise is a far superior prize then 300 jewels for top 5, and certainly for the 80 jewels for 25-50th place. Although, I would probably rather have 100 runes than planar bridge or mechanized production

DuskPaladin

Bubbleworks said:

I am one of the new players. Currently trying my hardest to stay in Bronze as I don't have too many good cards.

It's a shame that you have to bend over backwards to not play with (and master) new cards because of the risk of going up a tier rather than just play, try new cards, and enjoy the game.

hawkyh1

DuskPaladin said:

Bubbleworks said:

I am one of the new players. Currently trying my hardest to stay in Bronze as I don't have too many good cards.

It's a shame that you have to bend over backwards to not play with (and master) new cards because of the risk of going up a tier rather than just play, try new cards, and enjoy the game.

I agree, it wasn't as fun when I was trying to not
master cards in order to stay in silver and chase
origins booster pack rewards. @Bubbleworks
maybe consider joining a coalition and then join
those in the silver tier?

HH

Bubbleworks

I joined a coalition. But I think no one in there plays. Lol. Should go and find a better one once I hit silver. I just played through all the training story chapters and there are so many new shiny cards to play with now. I guess I will be silver soon :-)

julianus

Bubbleworks said:

I joined a coalition. But I think no one in there plays. Lol. Should go and find a better one once I hit silver. I just played through all the training story chapters and there are so many new shiny cards to play with now. I guess I will be silver soon :-)

Check out the Coalitions sub-forum here. There are several active alliance groups with recruitment contacts - these alliances are made up of several cooperating coalitions and are usually pretty active and welcoming. They often have separate social media, such as discussion groups on sites like Discord or Slack.

Sarahschmara

I don't make it to the top (platinum is hard!) but I know most of the names up there. In my group of coalitions they're the ones spending all their time brewing up mischief in our deck building channel... and I know enough about the other groups to assume that the other top names are doing the same thing. 

I've been recruiting long enough to observe that the amount of time a player is will to dedicate to improving their own game directly correlates with how quickly they rise to a top ten team. 

Removing the mythic rewards has slowed down the training-up process, for sure, but the path to the top remains the same:

-Get involved with a group of active and enthusiastic players. 

-Learn as as much as you can about the game. 

-Play as many coalition events as possible (extra prizes just for finding 19 other people to play with? Sign me up!)

-Never stop adapting to the ever-changing meta. 

I get it, I get frustrated and need to vent too. But at a certain point we need to stop complaining and start figuring out how we can set ourselves up for success in the new environment. 

shteev

Sarahschmara said:

But at a certain point we need to stop complaining and start figuring out how we can set ourselves up for success in the new environment. 

I can multitask

Sarahschmara

shteev said:

Sarahschmara said:

But at a certain point we need to stop complaining and start figuring out how we can set ourselves up for success in the new environment. 

I can multitask

You've always been exceptional

Mainloop25

[quote] I agree we were getting too much. I always advocated for some compromise between the glory days and a more reasonable amount of cards for top players. 

However, ToS was actually a substantial prize nerf.  It was the same 3000 player brackets, but in the equivalent monthly IF or BP the top 25-50 got an actual mythic rather than 3/4 of one or less.  And sorry, but Rishkar's Expertise is a far superior prize then 300 jewels for top 5, and certainly for the 80 jewels for 25-50th place. Although, I would probably rather have 100 runes than planar bridge or mechanized production[/quote] 

I think he's just means it's better than the usual coalition prize of 40 jewels or less for a weekend event

Brigby

Don't mind me. Just stopping by to say that I'll be including this thread in my weekly report. Thanks for all of the feedback!